Revealing minimized windows in Linux

March 6, 2005 7:54 PM

A very silly Linux question: How do I get a window back after minimizing it?

I work on a boat. On this boat there are no Unix gurus, only me. The single public terminal is an old computer with very little memory. On this computer I installed "damn Small Linux" (DSL). Linux was installed because it is supposed to run well on old hardware, should be somewhat less vulnerable to spyware, plus I don't think anyone else on the boat would be likely to install some junky software on it. This computer runs reasonably well until it grinds to a halt, at which time I become very unpopular until it is fixed.

I believe what is happening is that every so often, someone will run the web browser, minimize it, then click the icon to run it a second time. After a while the multiple web browsers slow the machine to a crawl and I am summoned.

Sometime I use 'top' or 'ps' and 'kill' to try to fix the machine. More often I just reboot it. What I can't seem to figure out is what happens to the windows that are minimized. There are no traces of them in either of the workspaces. How can I 'pop them up' again? Searching under the DSL forums has been fruitless as has searching under 'fluxbox', which is the window manager that we are using. Any idea how to reveal windows are minimized in fluxbox?

Also, it is pretty lonely on this boat. This causes all written correspondence to be needlessly wordy. Sorry.

posted by MotorNeuron to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

In fluxbox, windows are minimized into the toolbar, which is by default at the bottom of the screen. It's the thing that the clock is at the right end of. The windows will be minimized into the centre part of it, which usually shows you the title of the active window.

If you can't find the toolbar, it might be set to auto-hide. You'll see the very edge of it along the bottom of the screen, unless you've moved it to another side of the screen, in which case it'll be there instead.

Alternatively, middle-click on the root window ("desktop") to get the Workspaces menu, and look in the Icons submenu of that.

If you're running the GNOME panel (you mention icons, and fluxbox touts "no icons" as a feature, so I suspect you are), it might be hiding the Fluxbox toolbar.
posted by mendel at 8:03 PM on March 6, 2005

Response by poster: Mendel,

I can see the toolbar. What you describe is how I remember the system operating when I first installed it. Now however, I can see the name of my application in the toolbar when the application is open in the workspace. When I minimize it, it does not show up in the toolbar (the little arrows do not make it come-up, either).

The same thing happens in the workspaces (middle click) menu. I can see the window's name in the list until I minimize it. Then it is gone. A 'ps' shows that the process is still running.

Also, this is still occurring even though I have simplified it down to 1 workspace, if that helps.
posted by MotorNeuron at 8:26 PM on March 6, 2005

Once you figure out how to bring back minimized windows, you should change the command associated with the "web browser" icon so that it stops running new instances of the program if one already exists. There is almost certainly an appropriate command-line option for whichever browser you're using.
posted by Eamon at 8:26 PM on March 6, 2005

have you tried the alt-tab key combination? I've never used fluxbox, but it may work to switch between open applications.
posted by jnthnjng at 8:39 PM on March 6, 2005

does the same thing happen for all kinds of windows (that they are invisible once minimized), or just the browser?
posted by andrew cooke at 2:24 AM on March 7, 2005

Best answer: In the workspaces menu, a minimized window will disappear from the submenu of the workspace you're in, and appear in the "icons" submenu. Does it not show up in either?

What version of fluxbox are you running? (fluxbox -version)

One other possibility: I just duplicated the toolbar-doesn't-have-it part by going into the configuration submenu of the root menu (right-click) and turning off "Use Icons". See if that setting is already turned off on yours, and turn it on to get the toolbar showing minimized windows. Then again, the "Icons" submenu of the Workspace menu still works for me either way.
posted by mendel at 4:37 AM on March 7, 2005

Response by poster: That was it Mendel. I had turned off "Use Icons". And yes, they also show up in the icons submenu of the workspace menu. I had somehow missed this. Thanks.
posted by MotorNeuron at 5:24 PM on March 8, 2005